Quest Bylaws
Amended by the Student Body Senate 10-7-03; 11-16-12, 9-12-13, 11-6-18, 2-5-20, 11-17-24, 8-4-26
Article I. Governance
Section 1. The Editorial Board of the Reed College Quest
A. The Editorial Board
i. The Editorial Board of the Reed College Quest shall consist of five persons who are Quest Editors.
ii. During the time an Editorial Board serves as Editors, no member of the Editorial Board may serve as a Student Body Senator, Senate Secretary, Student Body Treasurer, the Student Body President, or the Student Body Vice President.
B. The Members of the Editorial Board
i. The members of the Editorial Board shall be the editors of the newspaper. Collectively, they shall have the exclusive right to make all final decisions concerning the affairs of the newspaper by whatever means they decide are appropriate, with two exceptions:
a. The members of the Editorial Board are expected to adhere to generally recognized standards of journalistic behavior and ethics, as stated in Article VII, Section II of the Community Constitution, and shall be held accountable as an Editorial Board for violations of these standards.
b. Decisions in these areas of financial responsibility and advertising shall follow the rules put forth in Article III, Section 1 of these Bylaws.
Article II. Selection of the Editorial Board
Section 1. Election and Succession of the Editorial Board
A. Election of the Editorial Board
i. Nominations and elections of the Editorial Board shall be held each semester concurrently with the nominations and elections for Student Body Senate. The Editorial Board must consist of five people, consisting of the Layout Editor, and four Content Editors. Of these five Editors, the four Content Editors shall be elected. The Layout Editor shall be appointed according to Article II, Section 1, A. iii of these Bylaws. If the minimum of four people do not run for the Editorial Board, the current Editors will appoint Editors to fill the other positions according to Article II, Section 1, B.
ii. The nomination requirement for the offices of Editor shall be by petition of 25 members of the student body. Members of the Editorial Board shall be elected individually in accordance with the Student Body Election Code.
iii. The Layout Editor shall be selected by the four Content Editors following the election. The position of Layout Editor shall be advertised to the entire student body to the best of the Quest’s ability. The candidates of the Layout Editor shall be interviewed by the current Layout Editor and Content Editors and deliberated on. This selection must then be finalized by the Appointments Committee according to Article III, Section 1, D of these Bylaws. The appointee must demonstrate proficiency with Adobe InDesign and receive Senate’s confirmation prior to taking office.
iv. The Editorial Board shall take office at the conclusion of the semester in which they are elected, and serve a term of two semesters. In the time after their election, but before the end of the previous Editorial Board’s term, the Editors-elect shall serve as apprentices to the reigning Editorial Board.
B. Succession of Editors
i. If at any time during the Editorial Board’s tenure an Editor leaves the Editorial Board, the Editorial Board must find a replacement and inform Senate of its decision within one week of making the replacement. The Editorial Board shall make these decisions by whatever method it deems appropriate.
ii. If an Editor leaves the Editorial Board during the first semester of their term, on or before the Monday following the conclusion of fall or spring break, the second semester of the departed Editor’s term shall be filled by election according to the provisions of Article II, Section 1, A of these Bylaws.
Article III. Staff
Section 1. Layout Editor
A. Position of the Layout Editor
i. This shall be a role that must be filled in order for the newspaper to be recognized as a valid student body organization. This role shall be the Layout Editor as detailed in Section 1, D below.
ii. The Layout Editor shall be a member of the Editorial Board.
B. Duties of the Layout Editor
i. The Layout Editor shall be responsible for creating the layout of the newspaper each week.
ii. The Layout Editor shall, with the consent of the Content Editors, determine the size of each issue and the number of copies of each issue that is to be printed. If the Layout Editor decides to change the number of copies to be printed, they will consult the Content Editors before finalizing this decision.
iii. The Layout Editor shall hold the final responsibility for communicating with the organization that the Editorial Board chooses for printing the newspaper.
C. Appointment of the Layout Editor
i. The Layout Editor shall be finalized and appointed by the Senate, through Appointments Committee, based on the selection of the Editorial Board.
Section 2. General Editorial Staff
A. Role of the Editorial Board
i. The Editorial Board shall have the power to create any positions which it deems necessary or vital to the production of the newspaper, other than the ones previously set forth in these Bylaws. The Editorial Board shall make these decisions by whatever method it deems appropriate.
B. Tenure of the Editorial Board
i. The tenure of the Editors shall terminate at the end of the two semesters for which the Editor was elected to serve. The Editorial Board shall be responsible for the publication of all issues of the Quest in the year for which they have been elected to serve. On the last issue, the incoming Editors will apprentice with the current Editors.
Section 3. Dismissal of Editors
A. Dismissal of members of the Editorial Board.
i. If a member of the Editorial Board is found to be incompetent in the accomplishment of their responsibilities, as set forth in these Bylaws, or is found to be disruptive to the internal administration of the Quest, the Editorial Board has the option of removing the specific member of the Editorial Board from their role as a member of the Editorial Board through a simple majority vote of its members. The Editorial Board shall provide the reasons and evidence behind the dismissal if requested to by the member in question. The Editorial Board shall notify the Senate of the member of the Editorial Board’s dismissal and indicate their replacement within 48 hours of the Editorial Board’s vote.